Perfection in the Form of Topiary
by hakanaii
Summary: AU! Finnick Odair a single father, Annie Cresta the kindergarten student-teacher that Noah Odair has grown attached to. Having sculpted their unruly realities of single-parenthood, taxing occupations, forced independence and bullies into topiary masterpieces they prove that perfection can be achieved in the most imperfect of forms. [Part 1 of the Kindergarten AU series]


The first of the Kindergarten AU series which currently contains: We Owe it to Ourselves to Try, This is the Way You Left Me and Take Your Time Coming Home. Baby Mellark's First Christmas also takes place in the same universe. Enjoy!

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Parents always seem to have a keen eye for cute size six pairs of shoes. The girls with rhinestones on their pink and white shoes, while the boys' heels lit up in flashing lights bringing their superheroes to life. Of the 24 cute pairs of Velcro shoes, only one pair has laces. The stark, white, frayed strings weave in and out of the holes of Noah's black and white running shoes. His fingers try over and over again to knot the strings, but they would not cooperate. Annie watches from her spot by the back door as Noah, on the brink of tears, makes his sixth attempt to knot them.

"May I help you?"

His small head of dark hair shakes from side to side, "I can do it." Noah takes one string in his hands and makes a loop before taking the other string and twisting it around the first one. When he finally tugged, the knot was made but loosely. Within two steps the shoelaces came untied again.

Those bright green eyes of his shone with tears as he ran into the corner of the room and cried to himself.

"Noah, would you please let me help you tie your shoes? Then you can go outside and play."

"I-I don't want to go outside," he wiped his nose on a tissue he had in his pocket.

"… Are some of the other boys picking on you?"

He stops. Then shakes his head.

"Who do you play with at recess?"

"Rosy," he sniffles, "We take turns riding the tricycle."

"Won't Rosy be all alone without you, then?"

He shakes his head again, "She plays mostly with Clove. Clove doesn't like that I play with her and Rosy but Rosy doesn't care."

"Hmm… do you want to play outside with me then? We can play basketball or soccer."

Noah sniffles and wipes his nose again in the tissue before throwing it away. "Okay."

It was the first time Annie had seen him smile all day.

"Ms Cresta, I need help!" Noah short arm shot up into the air. He is seated at the writing station, the top half of his page decorated with a drawing of him and his dad, while an incomplete sentence rest underneath it.

"What can I help you with, Noah?"

"How do you spell 'swimming'?"

"S-W-I-M-M-I-N-G."

Noah's face lit up as he copies letter for letter in his small, neat printing.

"You write beautifully, Noah," Annie pats his head lightly.

"After dinner, Daddy and I spend 30 minutes writing each day! He picks three words from the book he will read to me at bed time and then has me write them five times!"

"Your dad is a really good dad," she smiles, running her hands gently through his hair.

"Uh-huh! He's a really great dad. I really love him!" Noah smiles up at Annie with his brilliant white teeth, "Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome."

He gives her a quick hug before running off to go play.

It is quarter to four o'clock in the afternoon and Noah is the only one left in the classroom.

"He'll be here soon. Don't worry," says Noah.

The clock ticked loudly in the quiet room.

"Noah, we have to go to the afterschool classroom. Your father is late and I cannot wait with you any longer," Ms Trinket says, her shoes tap quickly against the linoleum tile.

"He's not that late, he'll be here! He wouldn't forget about me."

"That's not what I'm saying. He'll come and get you but not in this classroom," Ms Trinket stated much more firmly.

"But he won't know where to pick me up if I'm not here!"

"I will tell the office where you are."

"I'm not leaving!" his eyes begin to shine with tears.

"Ms Trinket," Annie piped in from her place behind the cubbies, "I'll wait with him here. I don't mind."

"I cannot do that, Annie. If something happens to him, I am legally responsible."

"Mr. Odair has never been late before. He is most likely caught in late afternoon traffic and will probably be here any minute. Nothing will happen to Noah in the next half hour, the two of us will just be sitting here, drawing," Annie defended, "Is that alright with you?"

Noah nodded his head while Effie Trinket tightened the grip on her shoulder bag. "If Mr. Odair has not come to pick up Noah by 4:01 he is to be placed with the aftercare class, understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Annie confirms as she watches the kindergarten teacher leave the classroom for the evening without another word.

4:03 pm

"Miss Cresta, do you have a mom?" Noah asks from their spot at the circular table. Crayons and markers in the center of it along with a stack of lime green paper, just for them.

"Yes."

"Do you live with her?"

"No, she lives in the hospital now."

"How come?" Noah looks up at her, his green eyes looking larger than usual.

"She's sick. She needs doctors and nurses to look after her."

"Oh. I hope he gets better."

"Thank you," Annie squeezes the boy's shoulder, "I hope so too."

Capping the yellow marker, having coloured a sun into the top right hand corner of his page, he pulls out the orange marker. Noah outlines the enormous sun with the orange and draws evenly spaced rays coming out from around it.

"Who taught you how to do that?"

Noah did not look up from his page, "Rosy. Rosy's dad taught her. He's a really good colourer. When I went to Rosy's for a play date Friday he showed me that purple and yellow match really well together." Putting away the orange, Noah took the green marker and began to make grass before taking the gray marker and drawing in clouds. Annie watched in amazement as Noah added three people, two much taller than the third, to his picture.

"Do you miss your mom?" his hands were colouring in a pink dress onto one of the stick people.

"Yes, I do. Do you miss your mom?"

Noah stopped colouring. He puts the marker down and wraps around Annie's waist in a hug, "Daddy says that once I was born we moved right up here to Toronto to live with Auntie Jo. Daddy said Mommy left me with him and didn't want to see me again. She's mean. And I don't miss mean people."

She could hear his gentle sniffles and wet spots form around the core of her knit top. Holding him around his shoulders, Annie placed a kiss onto his head.

"Maybe that's better then. I'm sure your Auntie Jo loves you more than your mom ever could."

"She does," Noah sucked his running nose, "Auntie Jo tells me so all the time."

4:16pm

"That's not faaiir! You cheated, Annie!"

"Did not! There is a trick to tic-tac toe, I'll show you."

As a brand new sheet of paper crinkles beneath Annie's fingers, the front door of the classroom opens slowly. Both heads turn to see a fairly dishevelled looking Mr. Odair walking towards them. Dropping the pencil from his hand, Noah runs and jumps into his father's waiting arms.

"I'm sorry, Noah. I'm so sorry. I got busy, left late and got stuck in traffic, I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," Noah pulls away with a smile, "I had fun drawing and playing games with Annie."

Mr. Odair looked out from behind his son's head. Bronze hair tousled on top of his head, most likely his own doing, as a blue tie lay loosely around his neck and the top button of his dress shirt unfastened. Even in his state of disarray, Annie could see why the other mothers gossiped so readily about this man. He is Abercrombie and Fitch gorgeous with an Oscar-winning smile while looking no older than twenty-five. Hell, he probably was twenty-five.

"Is that how you're addressing your teachers now? By their first names? I know I taught you better manners than that," Mr. Odair ruffles his hair.

"It's alright, I don't mind. I'm not really a teacher."

"Oh? So what is the infamous Miss Annie's official title then?"

"Early Childhood Education Advisor," she blushes, "I am working towards becoming an ECE Instructor for when the kindergarten classes became full day. Twenty-four children is too much to handle for one teacher."

"I'd say. One of these guys is more than enough."His joke lost all humour as Noah's face fell.

"Daddy…I'm not really a handful, am I?"

sighs as he put Noah down on the ground and ran a hand through his hair, "You're not a handful, kiddo. I love you. You are the single most important person to me. I'm so glad that you're in my life." Noah nods with a smile.

"Thank you very much for staying with him. It means a lot to me. Safe trip home, Annie." The beautiful glow that Mr. Odair emitted faded almost as quickly as she discovered it. The wrinkles in his forehead, the dark crow's feet under his eyes and the elasticity to his skin became prominent. Single fatherhood did not suit the man whose body screamed for it to savour in its youth. Then again, maybe Noah was the end product of previous indulgence.

Annie did not like to bite her nails, but she could not resist the urge to gnaw a little bit as she paced the hallway.

The heavy foot falls of a man brought her attention up off the ground and some of her tension eased upon seeing it was Mr. Odair.

"Thank you so much for coming," Annie tries to smile.

He stops for the briefest moment, green eyes overwhelmed with anxiety, "You make it sound like I had a choice in the matter." Mr. Odair walks past her and into the conference room in the main office. Annie sat beside Principal Alma Coin, her eyes glancing around at a petrified Noah and exasperated Effie Trinket.

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Odair," Principal Coin begins, "I'm sorry to have had to give you such a distressing phone call but seeing as how one of our students went home with a concussion after your son hit him in the temple with his pencil case, I felt this could not wait."

"I understand," Mr. Odair glances down at his son, then back up to Principal Coin, "What will the consequences of his actions be?" Annie reaches under the table and holds onto Noah's shaking hand.

"We, as in myself and Ms Trinket, have decided that the best course of action would be to suspend him from school for the remainder of the week."

"A suspension?" Mr. Odair seemed far less alarmed than Annie had believed he would be. "And what exactly does that teach him? He can stay home from school and play all day if he acts violently? He's five, that's the way he'll see it within 24 hours, I can guarantee you that much."

"Mr. Oda-"

"Please, Alma, call me Finnick. Mr. Odair is what they call me at work."

Pulling her lip between her teeth, Annie tried her best to refrain from giggling. This was no time to be laughing, such violence was a serious matter. Expulsion had been the first punishment that had been tossed around between the three of them. However, despite how displeased Principal Coin appeared to be with Annie and Effie over their disinterest in expulsion, she was infinitely more unimpressed and downright sour with Finnick Odair. Who was he to walk into her school and challenge her authority?

"Finnick, consideringyour attention must be stretched as you are the only parent in Noah's life and primary income provider; I believe he would benefit greatly from extra quality time with you. I'm sure you afford to take a couple of sick days."

It was almost as if a switch had been flicked; the reasonable and logical Finnick Odair falling back, as the man before them with his half-lidded eyes, jutted lip and soft pink tongue came forward. Annie caught Ms Trinket's cheeks burn bright red as those smouldering eyes glance towards her first. Finnick did not have to hold the woman's gaze long before she folded like a house of cards.

"Ms Trinket, you know Noah well. Has it ever seemed as if he was in a deficit of attention in the classroom?"

"No sir," she gulps, "If anything, he gets the most amount of attention."

"Is that so?" Finnick glances briefly at Annie, "Well then, isn't it also true that I am incredible attentive to his schedule. I always make sure to pick up Noah and drop him off on time therefore putting his needs first?

"Yes sir."

"Beautiful! In addition to all this, isn't his reading writing and math advanced compared to the other students?"

"Absolutely! Noah is top of his class!"

Finnick smirked, "Therefore, do you truly find it would be, in anyway, beneficial to Noah if he stayed home for a few days rather than continue to flourish and excel with his skills in a classroom setting?"

"No sir," she admitted before she realized what she had done.

"Thank you, Ms Trinket," He smiles, before turning back to Principal Coin. His eyebrow rose, "Well?"

"Mr. Odair, there is a policy to uphold and I cannot dishonour that policy for anyone. We have already lessened the punishment in leeway of his age."

"Mrs. Coin," Finnick reached out and held onto her wrinkly, bony hand in his large one, "It was an incident that no one could have seen coming. After today, with the fear you have now ingrained into my son, what are the chances that Noah will ever cause an incident like this again? It was a minor concussion, right? Cato will be fine in a few days. If anything, he should be told to stay home for the remainder of the week. Maybe his parents need to spend some 'extra quality time' with their son if he is provoking his classmates to act violently."

"Penalties needs to be enforced here, ! Noah did something wrong!"

"And it will be. At home. However, I don't feel suspension is the answer."

"Alright. Fine. He can remain in school as long as he joins me in my office for all recesses until the end of the month."

"That sound okay?" Finnick asks, turning to his son. Noah nods, his grip on Annie's hand loosens. "Perfect!" and as quickly as it came, the seductive Finnick vanished, "Ms Trinket, I will be seeing you at ten to nine tomorrow morning. Principal Coin, it was a pleasure to meet you." Shaking her hand, that was still clasped between his, he ushered Noah out the door with the other. Partially turning to Annie, a gleaming smile pressed on his face, "Coming?"

Annie laughed softly, relieving herself from her seat before directing parent and child back to Ms Trinket's kindergarten classroom.

"So, Miss Annie, how was that?" Finnick asks as he watches his son put on his shoes. Once again, Noah's shoelaces providing to be a challenge.

"How was what?"

"My performance in the conference just now."

"Oh! It was wonderful! I've never seen anyone talk Alma out of anything before. It was… really something."

Finnick smiles as he shoves his hands into his pant pockets, shifting his weight back and forth between feet, "Good. I'm glad," he smiled, "Y'know if it weren't for you; I would have taken Noah outta this school a long time ago."

"Uh…hehe…um…th-anks."

"Noah comes home and always talks about you. You have single-handedly made his Auntie Jo a very jealous woman. And that's quite a feat, considering Johanna is a tough shell to crack."

"I see."

"Hm… she'll be plenty proud of him when he gets home for smacking that bully around, but nothing quite compares to your approval, though."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Finnick says, thirty-two sparkling white teeth shining back at her. Annie could not recall the last time any man had been so genuinely pleased around her.

"Annie, I can't do this! Can you please show me again the bunny rabbit thing?" Noah called over them from his seat on the bench below the cubby holes.

"Bunny rabbit thing?"

Annie giggles and she sits down on the tile at Noah's feet, "Take both laces into your hand and make loops like bunny ears. Now, where do bunny rabbits sleep in the winter?"

"In a hole in the ground!"

"Perfect, so. We take, one bunny ear and it goes down the hole then we pull….there! All cozy and safe for the winter."

Noah laughs as Annie pokes his nose ever so gently. Bouncing onto his feet, he gives her a bone crushing hug and kisses her cheek ever so gently, "Thank you, Annie. I love you."

"I love you, too, Noah. Anytime." She hugged the boy back.

"You're pretty young for a teacher-" Finnick cut in.

"ECE Advisor."

"Technicalities, Ms Cresta. When did you say you'll be done school?"

"I don't think I did. However, I am finished my placement in two months, then I will have my Early Childhood Education Instructor Certification."

"Congratulations!"

"Thank you."

"Have they offered you a job here, then?"

"They haven't yet, no."

"Hmm… if they don't…" Finnick pulls out the wallet that monopolized the greater part of his back pocket. Retrieving a card he hands it to Annie. Finnick Odair Marketing Specialist. "Even if they do and you accept it, don't hesitate to call."

"Shouldn't I be giving you my number?"

"That is incredibly unprofessional of you to be suggesting such a thing, Ms Cresta. I am the parent of one of your students, how could you!?"

Annie laughs, "You're one in a million, Finnick."

"One in 6.9 billion actually."

"Technicalities, ."

"Tomorrow morning then, bright and early?"

"I'll be here."


End file.
